New Semiclassical Picture of Vacuum Decay

Braden, Jonathan; Johnson, Matthew C.; Peiris, Hiranya V.; Pontzen, Andrew; Weinfurtner, Silke

Abstract

© 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. We introduce a new picture of vacuum decay which, in contrast to existing semiclassical techniques, provides a real-time description and does not rely on classically forbidden tunneling paths. Using lattice simulations, we observe vacuum decay via bubble formation by generating realizations of vacuum fluctuations and evolving with the classical equations of motion. The decay rate obtained from an ensemble of simulations is in excellent agreement with existing techniques. Future applications include bubble correlation functions, fast decay rates, and decay of nonvacuum states.

Citation

Braden, J., Johnson, M. C., Peiris, H. V., Pontzen, A., & Weinfurtner, S. (2019). New Semiclassical Picture of Vacuum Decay. Physical Review Letters, 123(3), Article 031601. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.031601

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 31, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2019
• Publication Date: Jul 19, 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 15, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 17, 2019
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 123
• Issue: 3
• Article Number: 031601
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.031601
• Keywords: General Physics and Astronomy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2834684
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.031601
• Additional Information: New Semiclassical Picture of Vacuum Decay, Jonathan Braden, Matthew C. Johnson, Hiranya V. Peiris, Andrew Pontzen, and Silke Weinfurtner; Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 031601.